Rare iconic movie posters to be auctioned in US
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A poster for the film King Kong (1933) during a press preview ahead of the auction on March 27 and 28.
PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON – Dozens of rare posters from some of the 20th century’s most iconic films will go under the hammer in March as an American collector relinquishes some of his most precious possessions.
The 500 posters and lobby cards – from classic films such as King Kong (1933), Casablanca (1942) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – have been exhibited in recent weeks in London, New York and Chicago.
Collected over half a century by real estate agent Dwight Cleveland, they are to be auctioned by Heritage showrooms in Dallas on March 27 and 28.
“I cherish every single one of them because every one was hand-picked,” said the 65-year-old. “These are commercial art. They were intended to grab us by the lapels and yank us into a movie theatre and say, ‘See this film’.”
But these were also “important art” that went beyond just advertising, he added.
The posters and cards, which would have been displayed in cinema foyers, span around 125 years of film history. Many images date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
But after 50 years, “it’s getting harder and harder to find anything to add to the collection”, said Mr Cleveland. “I don’t feel like there’s anything else I can do and give to this hobby.”
Some posters will do better at auction than others, he added, including the one for the 1933 version of King Kong showing the late Canadian-American actress Fay Wray in the grip of the beast.
It has an estimated guide price of US$40,000 (S$53,400) to US$80,000.
Passion
“The selection of Cleveland’s collection offered by Heritage in March represents the best of the best,” said Heritage’s vice-president Joe Maddalena.
Mr Cleveland said: “What makes me different from most collectors is that I fell in love with the artwork first. I do not come to this from a film background.”
His interest in the subject began at school, where his art teacher displayed film posters and lobby cards in his room.
A poster for the film Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) at Heritage Auctions in London on Feb 27.
PHOTO: AFP
“We walked by these every day, and we kind of made fun of him, to be honest with you, because he had quite a few of them, and it was a very esoteric collection,” Mr Cleveland said.
But one day in 1977, his last year at school, he was drawn to a lobby card from the romance film Wolf Song (1929), starring the late American actor Gary Cooper and late Mexican actress Lupe Velez.
He became hooked. It took him 18 months to gather enough movie items to trade for the card with his then former teacher – sparking a lifelong love of collecting.
Mr Cleveland’s extensive collection was exhibited in the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2019.
A poster for the film The War Of The Worlds (1953) at Heritage Auctions in London on Feb 27. The posters are set to be auctioned on March 27 and 28.
PHOTO: AFP
Other exhibitions have been held in San Diego, Los Angeles and New York.
Some rare finds going under the hammer include a 1953 Italian poster for Casablanca, starring the late American actor Humphrey Bogart and late Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman.
Most of the posters to be auctioned have estimates of between US$1,000 and US$2,000. Heritage has calculated that the whole auction could raise US$1 million.
After the Dallas auction, Mr Cleveland will still own about 10,000 lobby cards and around 500 posters, which he might one day either donate or put up for auction.
“I’ll be sad to see some of them go, but I’ll be happy that they’re going to be in the hands of other collectors, to whom they’ll mean a lot,” he said. AFP
